Electron groups traced from the sun to 1 AU

We trace electrons from the Sun by a variety of proxy methods - solar flare positions, and metric and kilometric type III radio bursts from the Sun until they can be observed in situ as electrons at the ISEE-3 spacecraft. Our study extends over the period of operation of the electron experiment on ISEE-3 from August 1978 to November 1979. By carefully restricting timing within the data sets involved, we find a peak in the number of flares associated with in situ electrons near 60° west solar longitude. This peak shows that type III bursts can be fairly limited in spatial extent, and that the best connection with the solar surface to the flare is along the Archimedean magnetic field spiral. We use this spatial determination to define an average beam shape for an event. We assume this average beam shape to be representative of the distribution in space of each electron group. The electron numbers at 2 and 29–45 keV energies combined with this average beam shape are used to approximate the total numbers of electrons and energy per burst for individual events. We find that the total number of electrons and total energy for events varies significantly with flare type; that on the average brighter flares are associated with more electrons.